Memphis Depay, Leroy Fer and the Everton January transfers that never were

sbo888 Eight days and counting.

Eight days until the January transfer window SLAMS shut.

Everton, surely, have business still to do?

They've been busier than most, spending close to £50m on bringing in Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott.

But with holes all over the squad – most notably at left back – and the horrendous injury to James McCarthy, it would be no surprise if Sam Allardyce brought in at least one more new face between now and January 31.

It can be a tricky market, January, but Everton have tended to get involved regularly. Their record is a mixed one – John Stones, Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar were successes, Lacina Traore and Aiden McGeady less so.

And in some cases, the Blues were unable to get their man. Here are five of the January transfers that never were...

Memphis DepayDid you see his winning goal for Lyon against Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday night?

The Dutchman could, and perhaps should, have been doing that for Everton.

Depay was targeted by Ronald Koeman a year ago. Koeman, in fact, even went public in his admiration for the forward – six weeks before the 2017 January transfer window opened.

But while Everton did manage to land Morgan Schneiderlin from Manchester United, the deal for Depay fell through. He joined Lyon instead, and has since scored 15 goals in 45 appearances for the Ligue 1 side.

Koeman confirmed in October, ahead of Everton's Europa League clash with Lyon, that he had tried to sign Depay. “I like the player and we tried,” he said. “But we couldn’t reach an agreement.”

Ishak Belfodil

Another player targeted by Koeman in January 2017, Algerian striker Belfodil was seen as the man to offer some support for Romelu Lukaku, who was carrying Everton's goalscoring burden pretty much alone.

Everton were willing to pay around £10m to land Belfodil, but after initial discussions the move was shelved.

“Belfodil was one of the players on our list and we had the opportunity to buy him but we took the decision not to sign him,” Koeman said.

Later Christophe Henrotay, an agent involved in the deal, would claim that Koeman had “suddenly changed his mind” on the player, and that chairman Bill Kenwright had become “annoyed” at the situation.

Then Standard Liege president Bruno Venanzi claimed that the Jupiler League club had not received any kind of offer from Everton for Belfodil, challenging anyone to prove otherwise. sbo888

That offer was taken up by former Belgium international Daniel van Buyten, who was acting as a transfer advisor with Liege at the time.

He claimed to have produced an email from Everton, showing an offer of €10m (2 x €5m), and an easy €2m bonus.

“What’s more official than that?” he asked. What is clear is that Belfodil never made it to Merseyside. He's since moved to Werder Bremen.

Leroy Fer

One of the more famous 'collapses' in recent memory.

Everton had agreed an £8.6m deal to sign Fer from FC Twente, prompting much excitement among supporters. Fer did, after all, boast a good reputation in the Eredivisie, and a cool nickname too - “The Bouncer.”

He was set for Goodison, only for the move to collapse at the last minute, a medical having revealed a problem with the midfielder's knee.

Everton had wanted to restructure the deal as a result, requesting insurance clauses and appearance-related payments. Twente refused.

"He's a really good player, but it was a situation out of our control," said David Moyes. "We couldn't make it work."

Fer has since gone on to make 150 appearances in English football for Norwich, QPR and Swansea.

Alvaro Negredo

While the Fer deal was up in the air, Everton made a bid to sign striker Negredo from Sevilla.

It didn't go well.

The Blues were quoted €15m for the Spain international, a fee they had no chance of matching.

'Negotiations' didn't last long. Negredo moved to Manchester City that summer, and helped them to the Premier League title in his first season.

Jack Butland

Perhaps less well-known than the others is that Everton thought they had secured a deal to sign a teenage Butland from Birmingham in 2013.

The goalkeeper had been scouted extensively by Moyes and his team, who felt he could be the long-term successor to Tim Howard.

Despite Butland's desire to make the move, it never happened, a disagreement over the fee proving costly. He moved instead to Stoke, where he remains their No.1.sbo888